


A reunion to remember

by Duke_The_Bounty_Hunter



Series: Meadwell and Wicks meet Duke Adventures [5]
Category: Original Work, The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 22:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16752706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duke_The_Bounty_Hunter/pseuds/Duke_The_Bounty_Hunter
Summary: Another past comes to visit and Emily and Duke dive into finding out more about the true antagonist.





	1. Justine meets Duke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justine meets Duke for the first time in Learning Support.

The last time I remember seeing my friends from Brookwood was back in 2008. The reason I hoped to see them again was to see if they remembered and it was what kept me going. It was my faith to keep looking.

After the Media lesson on 21st February, Duke came with me to Learning Support in room 47. Behind the desk was Justine Charsley, one of the Learning Support assistants. She had blonde hair tied in a bun and blue eyes and wore workout clothes as if she was going to the gym when college had finished.

‘Hello, Emily.’ Justine greeted me warmly.

‘Hello, Justine,’ I said. I signed in the red book and took the computer near the door.

Justine saw Duke and said hello to him. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Duke,’ said Duke.

‘I’m Justine. If you need help with anything, just ask.’

Duke took a chair from the middle table and sat on the left of me before I got out two headphones and plugged the jack adapter in the front port for headphones.


	2. Friend in need and light headed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris goes to help Duke and Emily has something strange.

On Tuesday 23rd May, I went to Learning Support. I took the pc near the door. I tried not to cry.

‘Are you alright, Emily?’ a voice asked kindly.

I turned around.

Justine was sitting on the seat for the computer next to the one I was using.

‘Duke.’

‘Yeah. Is he alright?’

‘I’m worried about him. He’s my friend. Do you know whether George or Chris could check on him?’

‘I’ll go and check.’ Justine got out of the seat and went to the staff room, which was opposite to room 47. She came back with Chris, who was another LSA, tall, and wore a suit without the jacket.

‘Justine said you needed help with something,’ Chris said when he saw me.

‘Yeah. I need someone – a guy – to check on Duke. I need to know if he’s ok.’

‘Do you know where he is?’

‘He’s in the toilets outside Learning Support next to the stairs.’

‘I’ll be back.’

‘Thanks.’

Chris left. I used sight sharing to see what he saw. From Chris’s point of view, I saw him go inside and call Duke’s name.

I remembered when Luisa and I took the train with Dad to Chatham as kids and how, if we needed the loo in London Victoria, we would go to the gents as it depended on the _adult_ and not the child.

One of the doors opened and Duke got out and faced Chris. He was wearing casual: black trousers, black shoes; white t-shirt (with three stains, for some reason) and a brown leather jacket.

‘Chill if you don’t get an answer,’ I said on a walkie-talkie. ‘Duke is not really a chatterbox. In case you are wondering, I wouldn’t question about the stains on the t-shirt.’ If I could, I’d have gone in there with Chris, but due to gender I couldn’t.

‘Are you ok?’ Chris asked. He put his hand on Duke’s shoulder.

‘Have you sometimes felt scared of yourself, of what you could do?’ Duke answered with his own question.

‘What do you mean?’ said Chris. ‘Is there anything I could do to help?’ As a member of Learning Support, Chris wanted to know that Duke wasn’t alone and that he could tell him things. He couldn’t leave not knowing that Duke wasn’t alright.

Duke got out a notebook and pen and wrote _Do you worry about hurting someone? I don’t want to endanger you or anyone else._

‘That’s why Learning Support is here: to help.’  

The two returned to Learning Support, minutes later. They were alright.

I had a feeling of dizziness before I collapsed. Everything had gone dark after Chris and Duke rushed over to me.


	3. Chapter 3

Justine was going to Media and accidently bumped into Duke. ‘Sorry, I didn’t see you there, Duke. Do you need help with anything?’

‘Where is he?’ asked Duke.

‘Who are you looking for?’

‘Duke’s looking for Terry,’ I said. ‘Do you know where he is?’

‘Try the Media office,’ Justine suggested.

I knocked on the door of the Media office next to room 10, uncertainly. Lauren Hounsome opened the door.

‘Hi, guys,’ said Lauren. ‘Are you two alright?’

‘Justine said that … Terry would be here.’

A man looked up from the table near the door. I knew that it couldn’t be Neal, as this guy was clean-shaven. It was Terry Wilks.

‘What do you need help with?’ Terry asked.

‘Could you help us with Premiere, please?’

‘Ok.’ Terry went with us to room 9, which was the classroom that he taught in. ‘Whereabouts in Premiere do you need assistance?’

I pointed to the screen. ‘The videos are mirrored and I don’t know how to change them back.’

Terry told us how to change the videos to their original state.

I thanked him. ‘There’s something we need to tell you and we think it’s better if you sat down.’

Terry crossed the room to the desk near the door to room 8 and sat behind the computer.

‘I’m not sure how to tell you this but your life is in peril. We’ve come to help you.’ It was zany saying that. Maybe it would’ve been better if Justine had told him.

‘How exactly can you two help?’ asked Terry, bewildered that we had gone to inform him that he was in danger.

‘We’ll protect you from the people who want to make a Terry pizza out of you and take your powers. They want to do the same to Duke and take his powers. Everyone in Media, Duke and me included, would like you in one piece.’

‘Who are those people?’

‘People who call themselves the Government. They’re a syndicate who work with Zgtozata the Black Smoke of Darkness. Zgtozata’s goal is to take over all worlds. Do you understand what was said?’

‘Yes.’

‘Don’t worry; you’ll be safe with us. We won’t let him lay a finger on you.’

Terry thought about this. ‘What did you have in mind?’

‘Duke will disguise himself as you and teach your class. You do some of the lessons and Duke does the others. That way, the minions who work for Zgtozata won’t suspect who is you and who is Duke.’   

At that moment, something weird happened. The interactive whiteboard turned on by itself. All three of us saw the clinic scene in Colony after the bounty hunter went through the door whilst playing Aviu Tusuy by Alborada. The bounty hunter wore casual: black trousers, black shoes; white t-shirt (with three stains, for some reason) and brown leather jacket. The same clothes that Duke wore when Chris found him.

The door banged open. A man stood there. Duke brought his eyebrows together – not a good sign. If Duke got annoyed, there would have been trouble and throwing about. I glared at the Gov Man, like how I did on my eighth birthday (I didn’t know that Granny still had the photos).

Black smoke materialised out of the air and crawled slowly towards us…


	4. What was seen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily explains about the vision she had.

‘Emily, are you ok?’

Lauren Hounsome was standing over me with Duke and Chris.

‘What happened?’ I asked. I saw that I was still in Learning Support. I stood up.

‘You collapsed. You said, “You can’t get Terry. I’ll make sure he’s safe from you.” Who’s Terry?’

‘His name is Terry Wilks. He’ll join Woking College in September. He’ll be Head of Media and Film. We gotta protect him. We can’t let those people get him. Zgtozata wants him for the same reason he wants Duke – his powers.’

‘What will he look like?’ Lauren sat on a nearby chair.

‘He will have brown hair. On the board with the pictures of the Media department, he wears a light blue shirt with the top button undone. He can help with Media Studies, Digital Design, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Course Questions and UCAS Applications related to Media and Film degrees. You will say that he’s a really nice person and he knows his films. In the Media office, his desk will be the one near the door. He will have a photo of two boys who you will tell me are his sons. My response to you will be: “Good for him.”’


	5. Meeting with Terry

The last place I expected to be was in room 9 with no one but the Head of Department.

Well, here it goes, I thought. I could kiss Premiere and Photoshop goodbye. I had to fight the desire to run. My heart was racing.

Terry sat down behind the desk. ‘Did you know there was plagiarism?’

‘No, Terry. I remember section six of the code of conduct stating that if there was evidence of plagiarism in our work, we would be expected to attend a meeting with you.’

‘Are you aware of what happens?’

‘Yes, Terry.’ I tried not to cry. ‘The last thing I wanted to do was frustrate you. Lauren said you are a nice person. Justine said the same thing.’

‘Are you alright?’ asked Terry, concerned.

Wow. Terry does care. What a nice person.

‘Am I to continue the BTEC courses in Justine’s lessons?’

‘Yes. I will tell Justine that all is well.’

‘You mean there was no plagiarism?’    

‘Yes.’

I did the yes fist pump. ‘Yeah.’ I watched Terry change. He was Duke. I turned around and saw Terry standing in the doorway.

 


	6. Joined by another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christine joins Lauren and Emily to see if everything is ok.

Christine Hutchins had joined Lauren. ‘You ok, Emily?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Did you see anything else?’ Lauren asked.

‘I was in room 9, having to attend a meeting with Terry for “plagiarism”. I mentioned a code of conduct, which said that if there was evidence in our work, we’d get a talking from the Head of Department. It turned out that “Terry” was really Duke in disguise. Then the real Terry was standing in the doorway.’

‘How did you feel?’

‘Terrified. I thought I would have to leave, which meant I wouldn’t do anymore Photoshop or Premiere.’ I sat on a chair from one of the middle tables. ‘It was one of those moments where even your reassurances of “Terry is really nice” will not save me. I thought Justine would be there, but she wasn’t.’       


	7. Meeting with old friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily reunites with her friends from Brookwood and comes with a plan with Duke.

On Thursday 25th, after giving Charlotte her birthday present (glitter rainbow unicorn necklace from Claire’s), I met up with some of my pals from Brookwood: Nikolai Merritt, Anna-Jorge Somerville, Deanna and Kyle Fae and Thomas and Abigail outside the sports hall behind the counter. They still looked like themselves as I remembered them only they were older now. They looked different in clothes other than the Brookwood uniform: yellow shirt with the logo, green jumper also with the logo and black trousers or green-checkered dresses.

I had written a letter to Nikolai, to see if he still lived at 46 Heath Drive, but then the following day I received an email from a student called Ethan Cutmore, who I hadn’t met before, asking if I knew Nikolai. ‘How was Brookwood after I left?’

The blond boy, Thomas, spoke. ‘It looked the same but it didn’t feel the same.’

‘I remembered you wrote a letter saying that you hope I enjoyed my new home and my new school, though you misspelt school. It’s understandable as we were eight at the time. You know Elliot Quick and Alan Taylor? They’re here.’

‘Really?’ Abigail, the brown haired girl, said. ‘We thought you wouldn’t remember us.’  

‘I was thinking the same thing. Hey, Deanna,’ I said to a blond girl.

‘Hey,’ said Deanna.

‘Do you still see Richard Lopez? Do you still call him “Makka Pakka Richard”?’ Richard was one of the boys in our class at Brookwood School. In the class photo, which was taken in the field, he had his arm around Deanna.

Deanna laughed. ‘Sometimes.’

‘Cool.’ I checked the time in the sports hall. ‘Listen, it was great catching up with you and seeing how you were doing. I must get to my lesson. Farewell.’

‘Farewell.’ Nikolai, Anna-Jorge, Deanna and Kyle, Thomas and Abigail waved before leaving.

I knew how Duke and I could save Terry. We would go to the future.   


	8. Government Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Government have another meeting in order to decide what to do.

In a meeting room were some of the members of the Government: Toothbrush Moustache Man, Gov Man, and Daverin’s brothers, along with the Brawny Man, the Old Man, Gib and Janine.

‘We need to come up with a plan on how to stop anyone from foiling the Black Smoke’s plans of conquest,’ said the Toothbrush Moustache Man. ‘Does anyone have any suggestions?’

‘How many months until September?’ asked Janine.

Gib counted on his fingers. ‘Four months. Four months until Terry Wilks joins Woking College and becomes the new Head of Department. When he arrives, we’ll be waiting.’

‘We need the information,’ the Old Man said.

‘How do you plan on getting the information?’ the Gov Man asked.

‘By telling Emily that we know where her friends are.’

‘I’m sure your plan will work.’

‘Trust me, it will.’     

‘Good luck with that,’ said Daverin’s eldest brother. ‘The thing is, since Terry will be Head of Department and do teaching, he will be busy most of the time, doing tedious jobs like marking mountains of paperwork, even in his lunch break.’  

‘Yeah,’ agreed the middle brother. ‘All work and no play.’

 


	9. Saving the HOD and everyone else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily and Duke race to stop the Black Smoke from getting Terry and the other teachers and uncover the conspiracy.

When we got to room 9, we saw there were some members of the Government.

‘There you are,’ the Gov Man said. ‘We’ve been expecting you.’

‘In what way?’ I asked, glancing at Terry. ‘Did you intend for this to happen?’

‘Yes, we did.’ Janine went over to one of the computers. ‘What is the operating system of these computers?’

‘Windows 8,’ I answered. ‘In room 10, they have Macs. The room next to room 8, 8A, is the editing suite.’

 Janine got up images of the Double Standards hurt everyone.

‘There’s a split screen on each image and all the words are in block capitals. If a woman, for example, gets cancer, she gets money, hence the dollar sign. What does the man get in the same situation? Nothing. Alternatively, if a man hangs out with lots of women he gets lots of praise. If a woman does the same, she gets called lots of unflattering names.’ I pointed to one of the pictures. ‘In this picture, you can see that if a woman commits suicide, she is considered a victim. A man does the same and it’s called statistics. With a woman and an underage boy, she’s having an “affair”. Swap the ages and gender and it’s “rape”. What do you want?’

‘To ensure that no one gets in Zgtozata’s way,’ the Gov Man said.  

‘How did you guess?’ the Old Man asked.

‘The real Duke wouldn’t act in the manner that you were acting. Or the others. Not with me anyway. Please, don’t hurt Terry,’ I pleaded.

‘You care about him, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, I care. Are you going to tell everyone about 8th  January or before in 2014 where I saw two year 11s kissing and Mr Windsor was like “Don’t do that. It’s disgusting”? Christian Matak and his pal, who were in year 11, walked in a massive puddle barefoot.’

‘Any last words before I dispatch your pals?’

‘Yeah. I’m sorry for making Zgtozata look like Gaston. Actually, Gaston was reasonable, without the chest hair and the five dozen eggs and the six or seven “strapping boys like me.”’ I got the video to 1:25 like in my vision from earlier and pressed play. Whilst the Government’s attention was on the video, I fumbled for the door handle and opened the door quietly before sneaking out.

‘Nice one.’

Titus, who was a friend of James Roe, joined us. Lauren was with him. ‘How’s it going?’

‘Alright,’ I said. ‘If we’re lucky, we can try and go somewhere like the studio without them noticing. I played the video from the meeting.’

‘Are you talking about the meeting for “plagiarism”?’ Lauren said.

‘I’m talking about the meeting where Duke and I said about the Government and how Duke will disguise himself as Terry and teach some of his classes.’

‘We heard some of the flunkies talk about 26th February and 4th March 2014.’

‘On 26th February I said hello to some year 11 guys before going to LS with Mrs McKenzie, and on 4th March Mrs McNeil wouldn’t let me go to lunch until I had solved a sum. I asked the Government if they were going to talk about 8th January. Those events really did happen. There were two year 11s kissing. Mr Windsor did say “Don’t do that. It’s disgusting”. Christian Matak and his pal, who were in year 11, did walk in a massive puddle barefoot.’

‘A good try. Did you know about 6th December?’

Zgtozata had followed us, without our knowledge. Was this the end?

I gave a puzzled look. ‘What about 6th December?’

‘You will go to him,’ Zgtozata’s eyes lingered on Terry, ‘and, despite you wanting to run away as always, ask him a question.’

‘What will I ask and what will be the answer, if you know?’

‘You will ask “How are you feeling?” Terry’s response will be “Who me?” Then he will say about the dreaded lurg and feeling poorly. Other than that, he’ll be ok.’

‘The response is understandable. I would be caught off guard, if I were asked a question like that unexpectedly.’

‘Like with Ethan Cutmore?’

‘Yeah.’ I had to keep Zgtozata talking, so Lauren, Duke, Terry and Titus could escape. ‘Didn’t you tell the Old Man that his “chosen people” will not work? I mean, you should’ve seen the Gov Man’s other suggestions. You wanna know who they are? They are Williamson, Duke, Terry Wilmer, Jerry, Terry Wilks and Nicky from Smallville.’

Zgtozata coughed, which was ironic as he was smoke. ‘Those people are not ideal people for the Old Man’s plan. What was your reaction to seeing him as the people you mentioned?’

‘I was taken aback.’ I pulled out a USB stick. ‘You see this? It has the necessary information on Terry here.’ I saw that the Government members had emerged from room 9.

‘Give it to me!’ Zgtozata lunged at me, but I backed away.

‘You want the USB?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Go get it.’ I made a run for it to room 55 where Chill out took place. ‘What could possibly go wrong? Zgtozata takes Terry over.’ I put a hand to the side of my head. ‘Argh!’

Luckily, someone was there at Learning Support. It was Justine.

‘How are you today?’ Justine asked.

‘Not so good. There is great danger here. The Black Smoke controls Terry. Lauren, Duke and Titus managed to get away.’ I looked out the door to see if they had showed up. ‘I realised what happened.’

‘What happened?’

‘It started when we went to room 9 and we saw the Government with Terry. If his charges were there, it’d be more complicated for them. We managed to get away by playing one of the music videos I made, but Zgtozata followed us and said about how I would ask the Head of Department how he was feeling. I told Zgtozata about how one of the members got close to me by pretending to be Duke and Terry.’

I took a deep breath. ‘I got out a USB stick saying that it has information on Terry and that if Zgtozata wanted it he should go get it. I ran to room 55, with the others going in a different direction. I said to myself, “What could possibly go wrong? Zgtozata takes Terry over”. When I said those words, Zgtozata took control of Terry. I felt it as if it was happening to me.’           

Duke, Lauren and Titus showed up.

‘Is there anything we could do to help?’ Emma Wicks queried.

Titus turned around to face her. ‘Those doors in that staff room, where do they lead to?’

‘They’re cupboards.’ Emma turned around on the swivel chair she was using. ‘What is the problem?’

‘We have to rescue Terry from the clutches of evil,’ I answered. ‘We can’t let Zgtozata win. For those who don’t know who Zgtozata is, he is black smoke who used to look like Gaston. On the other hand, they could turn both Terry and Duke into teddy bears.’

‘Where is this black smoke now?’ Chris asked.

‘Controlling Terry,’ I said. ‘It was his way of getting even. Zgtozata and the Government knew that Terry was going to join in September and they knew he was going to be Head of Department. We’ve got to find a way to stop them.’ I looked through the door and saw someone approaching. ‘I’ll be back.’ I hurried to the toilets near Business, found an empty cubicle, dashed inside and locked the door.

_Please let Duke and the others be alright_ , I pleaded.

From the stall, I heard the door open and footsteps.

‘You can run but you can’t hide,’ a voice said.

I knew who the voice belonged to. ‘What do you want?’ I asked.

Zgtozata laughed. When teachers laughed as themselves, it was ok. With Zgtozata controlling them, it was eerie. ‘You’ve got spunk, but you’ll need more than that if you want to save your college and your precious Terry.’   

I got out of the stall to face him. ‘What’s with “your”? Terry is a person not an object. Can we talk outside where we won’t die of embarrassment?’

We went outside.

‘What are your thoughts on the teaching and marking?’ said Zgtozata.

‘Interesting,’ I said. ‘At least I know how Terry feels about the marking and the teaching. Like, on Friday, Justine is at Learning Support at 12.40 to 1.40 and from 1.40 to 2.55. At three o’clock, she’ll be having a break and I’ll be teaching, so usually I try to talk to her after the lessons. Even in my lunch breaks, I’m busy. When I’m not teaching, I’m doing marking. It’s strange, you know, looking through Terry’s students’ work as I’m marking and wondering who they are, though I knew two called Dan and Amy. I took a print screen of Terry’s timetable so I knew if he was going to have a lesson or not.’

‘Did you manage to converse with Justine at some point?’

‘One time I did talk was to say good morning and then I didn’t see her for the rest of the week, due to my hectic schedule. I know because Justine sometimes told me she didn’t get a chance to talk to Terry when I saw her. For example, Justine could say, “Terry, could I talk to you briefly?” Terry: “Sorry, I got to teach.” See what I mean?’

‘Yes, I see what you mean.’ Zgtozata paced around me. ‘I can feel your anger. It is raging.’ Like with the laughter, it was unnerving that Zgtozata was talking to me whilst controlling Terry.   

‘You want Duke yet you fear him and you think the best solution is to take over Terry so you don’t flee screaming,’ I countered. ‘I need to tell you something.’

‘What is it?’

‘If Tom didn’t know about Duke masquerading as Ava to meet up with him at the Prowling Panther, I’d have said things like so Tom kissed the bounty hunter. So Tom’s first kiss was with his girlfriend’s dad disguised as his girlfriend... awkward.’ I got out the USB stick that I had earlier. ‘Do you still want this?’

Zgtozata nodded and noticed someone behind me.

I turned around to see that Duke had joined me. Everyone was still in Learning Support. ‘You have to spare Terry. Will you do that?’

‘That I will,’ said Zgtozata. He ejected himself. I shuddered, having felt that, as if it had happened to me.

In the time that Zgtozata had left, Duke had managed to grab Terry so he didn’t collapse onto the wooden floor. ‘Are you ok?’

‘I’m ok,’ responded Terry.

‘You are alone in the darkness,’ Zgtozata spoke in the same voice that Sauron in _Middle Earth: Shadow of War_ did when he fought against Celebrimbor and Eltariel as himself, not as Annatar.

‘I’m not alone and it is not dark,’ I said. I looked over my shoulder to see if the others had shown up.

Titus showed up. ‘You’re going down, Black Smoke.’

‘And who will make me pay? You? If you honestly think that a handful of puny creatures like you are a match for me, then I guess you’re not so clever after all.’

What was with quoting Splashmon? Splashmon was a Digimon with lilac hair. He wore an unusual suit with lots of zips and had strange markings.

‘If I wanted to, I could’ve made you flee from Duke,’ I told the Black Smoke.

‘Yeah,’ agreed Titus and he got out his green fan pen, pressed the button and blew Zgtozata away. He turned to address us. ‘The Government will be coming. If you intend to return to the Media Department, you must go another way.’

‘They came through where it says “Main Building” to get to room 9,’ I said. I headed to Learning Support, to meet up with Justine and the others. I saw that the other students were on computers and doing their tasks.

Until –

‘Enough! I will end you myself. Nothing will prepare you for what comes next.’ Zgtozata spoke again in the voice of Sauron from _Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor._

‘What comes next?’ I repeated.

‘You have failed.’

At Zgtozata’s side was the Gov Man.

‘Let go of your humanity. Let go,’ said the Gov Man, sounding like the Witch-King from _Middle Earth: Shadow of War._

‘Why do you sound like Sauron and the Witch-King?’ I asked.

‘It’s more chilling that way.’

‘You see, dear girl, you were aware of guys like Williamson and Duke, but you didn’t know who they were,’ Zgtozata said to me in Duke’s voice.

‘You’re right, I didn’t,’ I agreed pleasantly. ‘It’s not like I could remember seeing them in 2000. At least I got to see the new millennium.’ _And don’t call me dear girl sounding baritone like Duke._

‘What moved you?’

‘One of the leaflets about communication skills said that you could talk to someone you don’t know. The main problem is that Terry, our dear Head of Department, is busy with endless tasks, but I’m good with seeing that Terry is ok and speaking to the LSAs.’

‘How did you find out?’

‘Before seeing Terry, whenever teachers like Justine and Lauren talked about him, I thought of Terry from End Game, until I saw the picture. There are two pictures: one near reception with all the other teachers, next to Sarah Williams, and another in Media next to Steph.’

The Government members appeared in front of Zgtozata, like how the Nine did with Sauron in _The Hobbit:_ _Battle of the Five Armies_.

Janine simpered. ‘You thought you could evade us?’

‘Very soon now I’ll have Terry and Duke shall be mine!’ said a voice. Another familiar voice I knew.

Oreus was here.

Duke looked daggers.

Before one of Oreus’ men could capture Duke, Justine stood protectively in front of him.

‘What do you want?’ Oreus questioned brusquely.

‘You’re not going to hurt Duke,’ answered Justine bravely. She couldn’t allow Terry or Duke to be detained and made into pizzas or turned into teddy bears nor have their powers taken.

‘Brave words, for a woman.’ Oreus sneered. ‘You think to challenge me here, but you will fail.’

Lighting appeared next to Zgtozata and it hit me.

I was about to leave, but found that I couldn’t because I was being turned to stone and so was Chris, to everyone’s horror. The spell was creeping up on us from our feet, rising up.

‘What could we do?’ Justine asked. She feared for what would happen if the evil Zgtozata wasn’t stopped. If Zgtozata succeeded, no one could stop him.

‘How do you get out of this?’ Chris tried to move.

‘This is gonna sound weird but you have to say what you think of Duke and each other.’ I faced Justine. ‘What do you think of Duke?’

 Justine said her answer. She said that she always enjoyed having him visit Learning Support with me and that she got along with the other LSAs. The others said similar comments.

The petrification became undone, Zgtozata and his minions fled in defeat and I had another vision of the future.  


	10. Back to the present and review

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily gets another vision and returns to the present with Duke.

I was in room 9 sitting in front of the computer near the door to the printer in the Media corridor, waiting.

The door opened and Duke walked in the room.

‘Hi,’ I said.

‘Hi,’ Duke said. He sat in the chair I had pulled out for him.

I got out a Nutella sandwich that I had prepared earlier and took a bite.

‘Are you alright?’

I looked up to see that Duke had took the form of Terry. ‘No, I’m not alright.’ I was desperate not to show the tears.

‘Is there anything I could do to help?’ There was concern in Duke’s voice.

‘Can I ask why do you look like Terry?’

‘I thought you would feel better if it seemed like you were talking to Terry.’

‘How nice of you.’ I took another bite of my sandwich. ‘I don’t know why I freeze up or my legs turn to jelly or my heart races, when I’m near Terry. I spoke to Justine in Chris’s office and she said about how Terry’s a nice man.’

‘I could talk to him,’ Duke, as Terry, suggested.

‘Strange that you talk about Terry and look exactly like him. If you do talk to him, tell him that it will be brief, and don’t give him a heart attack by mimicking his visage.’

Duke, as Terry, laughed. As himself, Duke _never_ laughed, but he did smile briefly. ‘Yeah.’

In that moment, as if forgetting that Duke was disguised as Terry, I embraced Duke. When I realised my mistake, I hastily pulled apart.

‘I’m so sorry,’ I apologised.

Duke, as Terry, laughed and smiled. ‘It’s fine. No need to worry.’

I finished what remained of the sandwich before taking out the second.

‘What are you going to do now?’

I had a thought about this carefully. ‘Ideally, I would say we could go for a walk and get some air to refresh ourselves and talk, which we can do, but it would be best as you and not as Terry.’

‘How are you feeling?’ 

‘Better. Thanks. Would you say that Digital Design relates to art courses? Justine said that she thought that Terry said no and suggested checking my reply from him, until I told her that he didn’t say yes or no only that he was unable to help with BTEC filming, which was irrelevant to the question I asked, as it was not his “area of expertise”. I commented that it was ironic because the title says Head of Media and Film.’

‘Yes.’

‘Ok.’ I watched with a smile as Duke morphed back into himself.

‘At least Terry’s alright and you’re alright,’ said Duke.

 

We returned to 30th May.

‘What did you think of that?’ I asked Lauren.

‘I thought it was intriguing to know that Terry will join in September,’ was Lauren’s answer. ‘Also how to keep him safe from the Government was to have Duke pretend to be Terry and teach some of his lessons. It is a good strategy.’

I nodded slightly agreeing and so did Duke. ‘Don’t worry, Lauren. We will make sure that no one lays a finger on Terry.’ I smiled.  


End file.
